Friday, August 26, 2005

Time for the AFC Preview, which you’ve doubtlessly been hankerin’ for…

Here’s a shock. I don’t have New England winning it again. This will finally be Peyton’s year. With a reasonably healthy Edge and an only moderately porous defense, Indy will carry the AFC banner into XL.

AFC East – New England will win this division though, with the Jets again fighting for the Wild Card. The Jets might even press the Pats for the crown. I’ve seen some publications touting Buffalo as a surprise sleeper, “sleeper” being the operative term here. I see Buffalo at 6-7 wins while JP learns the job. Miami… well, they’ll be lucky to win 6, probably more likely to get 3-4.

AFC Central – Oddly enough, this division will be one of the most competitive. You have two teams with outstanding defenses (Baltimore/Pittsburgh) and one team with a potentially explosive offense (Cincy)… and the Cleveland Browns. Here’s the easy pick, Cleveland will come in last. Three young QBs will determine the division crown, with Cincy clearly having the edge in skill players and QB trend. OK, I’ve talked myself into it, Cincy will win the division, then Bill Cowher’s Jaw, then Ray Lewis’ posse.

AFC South – Indy wins. Jacksonville second. After that, no one really cares except for David Carr’s chiropractor and Steve McNair’s orthopedic surgeon.

AFC West – Four way tie! Or not. San Diego was a fluke last year, they’ll come back to 8-9 wins. Kansas City’s wins will be ½ of Priest Holmes’ touchdown total. Oakland will have one win for every 300 yds from Randy Moss and Lamont Jordan. If the two combine for 3000 yards, the Raiders will win 10. In the more likely event they combine for 2400, the Raiders will win 8. Jake Plummer will see to it that the Broncos go 8-8. In this group, that might be good enough, though I see a healthy KC winning enough to come out on top. Unless Kerry Collins throws less than 16 interceptions. Or Drew Brees repeats last year’s performance. Or Jake Plummer grows some pocket discipline.

The AFC road to the Super Bowl is paved with AstroTurf and no team is better on that crap than the Colts. Division champs will be New England (may have more trouble than you think), Cincy (!), Indy (slam dunk), and uh… uh… I’ll get back to you on that. Wild Cards will be the J-E-T-S jets jets jets and probably Pittsburgh if Big Ben proves to be more like Marino/Montana and less like Joe Gilliam/Mike Kruzcek. But nobody will stop Peyton this year.

Super Bowl XL prediction: Indianapolis over Philly 27-17. Super Bowl MVP Edge. So let it be written.... so let it be done.